B.C.’s plan to help heavy industry reduce its emissions in the CleanBC plan has been acknowledged by the Under 2 Coalition at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
The coalition is made up of 260 sub-national governments.
On Sunday, at the COP26 conference, the coalition awarded B.C. an award for “most creative climate solution” for the industry strategy in CleanBC.
One component of the industry program uses a portion of carbon tax revenue collected from the province’s largest emitters to “co-invest” in projects that reduce emissions in sectors like mining, pulp and paper mills, cement production agriculture, and oil and gas. This applies only to large emitters that pay carbon taxes and emit more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Under the Industry fund, $43 million is being invested in 32 projects in B.C.
A second component of the program rewards industries that meet or beat industry benchmarks by lowering the carbon taxes they pay. This is used in the LNG sector, for example, where projects that have below industry standard emissions intensities would pay a lower carbon tax rate – projects that use electric drive, for example in the liquefaction process.
“The award is another indication that we are on the right path through the new CleanBC Roadmap to 2030,” George Heyman, B.C. minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, said in a news release.
